Spreading Christmas Joy

Today we traveled around 100 miles to visit a school and village church.

Our first stop was Lazareni. We visted the neatest little school for the gyspy children. What a special place! They do so much with so little. The art work done by the various age groups was amazing. They shared some watercolors with us to bring home. The room was filled with laughter during the puppet show. Mary Lee shared her heart box and heart balloon with the children. They loved the balloon and it was a great avenue for her to share about Jesus.

Our lunch stop was a cultural experience at McDonalds in Oreada. I lost one team member in the bathroom and it was not my mother. Just to let you in on the secret..you needed a code to get out and of course it was not in English. We had prayer and half our lunch before we realized what might be up.

We went to Cauasd to a Baptist Church. What a true Christmas experience:

• A very tiny church, heated by a beautiful ceramic heater
• Handbells playing Silent Night
• Happy mamas and happy children
• Briana told about Jesus being the light of her life and the world using a string of red Christmas lights
• The excitement of chilren receiving a simple gift from someone far away

As we were loading the van you will not believe what we got in the middle of. A shepherd herding his sheep home. We stood on the side of the road as hundreds and I mean hundreds of woolly sheep trotted by to the shepherd's whistle. Amazing!

The most exciting moment of the day came when Randy decided that eight people dressed in winter coats, boots and backpacks could get in a 3x3 elevator! The good news was we fit and the door shut. The bad news was the elevator died. Panic set in! So badly we did not pray we wanted to take matters in our own hands. Randy quickly realized this and pried the door open. The worst news of all, we had to climb 6 floors to the apartment!